TikTok's owner has plans to move US users to a new version of CapCut, the popular video-editing app
The app's owner, ByteDance, has laid out plans to split US users into a new version of CapCut called "CapCut US," according to documentation viewed by Business Insider. Setting up a US-specific app could be part of a broader plan to comply with a 2024 law that required ByteDance to separate from TikTok and its other US assets or essentially cease operating in the country.
ByteDance is similarly planning to create a separate US version of TikTok, The Information reported on Sunday. The plan to split out a US version of CapCut suggests the company may be making a broader push to separate itself from the US beyond a TikTok sale.
While US users, influencers, and marketers have rallied to try to save TikTok this year, CapCut has also become a key tool for professional creators — and everyday social media users — who turn to the app for viral video templates and other editing features. CapCut has been downloaded over 1 billion times on the Google Play store, and it's currently the top photo and video app in Apple's US app store, outranking Instagram and YouTube in the category.
BI was not able to determine whether ByteDance plans to make US replicas of other apps it owns, such as its Instagram-style app Lemon8 or its education app Gauth, all of which are subject to the same divestment requirements as TikTok and CapCut.
ByteDance has spent a little over a year wrestling with how to respond to the 2024 divest-or-ban law. The company initially challenged the law in court but lost its case in the Supreme Court in January. President Donald Trump then granted it a lifeline, instructing his attorney general not to enforce the law while his administration tries to negotiate a TikTok sale.
Several bidders have emerged for TikTok, including AI company Perplexity and ad tech firm AppLovin. TikTok may ultimately sell to a group of US investors who, combined, could acquire a large enough stake to meet the law's divestment requirements. Trump told Fox News in late June that he was backing a bid from a group of "very wealthy people." He told reporters on Friday that discussions with China around a potential sale could begin this week. Any deal around TikTok would require approval from both the US and China.
Even if ByteDance gets the green light from both Trump and the Chinese government to split off from its apps in the US, many questions remain.
Would US-only versions of CapCut or TikTok still include videos and templates from non-US users? Would the owner of the US apps have access to ByteDance's algorithms? And will separate US apps satisfy the national security concerns that originally pushed Congress to pass a divestment law targeting the company?
ByteDance may also face obstacles in getting Americans to download new versions of its apps as competitors like YouTube have released similar features for their users. Meta released a CapCut-like app called Edits in April, which ranks 16th among US photo and video apps in Apple's rankings.
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Associated Press
17 minutes ago
- Associated Press
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Politico
21 minutes ago
- Politico
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CNN
22 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's missile announcement provides vital relief to Ukraine – but lack of stricter sanctions against Russia stings
Donald Trump's remarks on Ukraine on Monday were far from the biggest announcement the US president could have made. The good news for Kyiv is familiar. Trump has permitted NATO's other members to buy American arms – a wide range of them, it seems. Included are the urgently needed Patriot interceptor missiles, and the batteries that fire them. Trump even suggested there were 17 hanging around to 'spare' in one NATO nation. Whatever the precise reality of the arms package NATO eventually affords, it is exactly what Trump suggested at the weekend and exactly what Ukraine needs. The nightly barrage of Russian ballistic missiles can only be stopped by US Patriot missiles, and only the White House can authorize their supply. Ukraine was short of these, and other sophisticated American weapons that may not have been referenced by name and may be included in the deal. This is short-term, vital relief. But the sting for Ukraine comes in what was not announced: Immediate secondary sanctions against customers of Russian energy, which could significantly empty Moscow's coffers. The scope of sanctions proposed by a bill in the US Senate – potentially 500% on all trade with those who buy Russian hydrocarbons – would have been devastating. And those sanctions would hit China and India – the US's main rival and key ally respectively – at a time when oil prices are low, but trade turmoil is high. The damage to energy markets would have been palpable, and the US would also have been impacted by likely higher oil prices. But this comes with a significant delay, together with the somewhat toothless threat of sanctions against Russia itself (there is almost no trade to penalize). Fifty days gives Vladimir Putin until September for Trump to change his mind, or for the Russian president's rumored summer offensive to alter the battlefield reality to the point where Putin is happy to seek a freeze in the conflict. It does create a window in which New Delhi and Beijing may seek to decouple from Russian energy – unlikely given their dependency and how complex that would be – or perhaps apply pressure on Moscow to end the war. That too is a tough ask for Beijing, whose officials have recently indicated they cannot see Moscow lose the conflict without risking the United States turning its full attention to its rivalry with China. The deadline also shows Trump has yet to give up on the most elusive figment of his Ukraine policy: that the Kremlin actually wants peace, and has yet to be persuaded adequately into it. Trump again held out a deadline to push Russia into a deal. We have been here before, and Putin has let the ticking clock whizz past his ear. Yet it is important to seize upon Trump's change in tone – mood music being perhaps the more enduring indication of White House policy than the specifics provided. There was a telling moment in which Trump stopped short of calling Putin an assassin, and painted an image of a White House where the first lady often reminds him of how violently Kyiv is hit by Russians drones and missiles. The US president has swung wildly through all the seasons of Putin – his spring of hope that peace was possible, a brief summer of diplomacy in the Gulf and Istanbul, a fall of souring relations, and now, finally, the same winter of discontent that was President Joe Biden's default position. Yet after six months, in which, Russian diplomacy – its synthetic and performative nature, combined with cynical, maximalist demands – has flexed its muscles, Trump has still not given up on talking the Kremlin into voluntarily stopping its existential war of choice. Trump has also shied away from some of the tougher options available to him. No new American money is going to Ukraine, and we heard nothing public about new capabilities being delivered either. Trump's Ukraine policy is transformed in mood, perhaps, but retains key elements from its past. A desire for anyone but the US to foot the bill; deadlines for action, rather than immediate consequences for inaction; and a baffling belief the Kremlin wants peace. Kyiv will be relieved immediately but may also soon feel a familiar sense of disappointment.
